Improvement in the manufacture of boots and shoes



Patented August 12, 1873.

No. l4l,797.

. AM. PHOTZI-LITHDGRAP/l/C co. m (assmls PROBE) UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES A. KEITH, OF DANVERS, ASSIGNOR TO GORDON MGKAY, TRUSTEE, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BOOTS AND SHOES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 141,797, dated August 12, 1873 application filed June 23, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES A. KEITH, of Danvers, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in the Manufacture of Boots and Shoes and I do hereby declare that the following, taken in connection with the drawings which accompany and form part of this specification, is a description of my invention sufficient to enable those skilled in the art to practice it.

In sewing boots and shoes upon what is known as Blake or McKays sewin g-machines, it is customary to last the upper to the inner sole, and confine the outer sole to the lasted inner sole, and then removing the shoe from the last, to place the shoe upon the horn of the machine and unite the inner sole, upper, and outer sole, by a continuous and continuously-formed line of stitches extending from one side of the heel around the sole to the opposite side of the heel, or around the whole foot. In such machinean inclined arm, called the horn, is generally used for the work-support, and my invention has particular reference to a method of uniting the parts, by which method a straight or vertical post may be employed, as the sl1oe-support in the process of sewing.

In my method I place the inner sole upon a last and draw the upper over the whole edge of the inner sole, and last the toe-part of the upper to the inner sole by lasting tacks or by other suitable means. The rest of the upper edge is crimped over the edge of the sole without fastening it thereto. Then the outer sole is laid upon the inner sole and upper, and confined preferably by three tacks. Then the last is drawn from the toe-lasted shoe, and the unlasted part of the upper from between the edges of the soles. By slightly bending the sole and the loose part of the upper the parts are then readily brought into such relative position that a straight and vertical work-supporting post of a suitable sewing-machine may run up into the extreme toe-part of the shoe. The shoe being placed on such a post, one end of thetoe-lasted part is brought to the path of the needle, and the machine is started, the shoe being guided and the stitches formed along the whole length of the lasted edges. The position of the post and of the shoe with relation thereto will now be such that the unlasted edges of the upper may be thrust into place between the edges of the outer and inner soles, and the operator, with any suitable device, presses in the part of the edge nearest to the needle, so that as the sewin g progresses the union of the parts will progress, the upper edge being pushed into place as the sewing progresses until the lasted point 7 in the process, consisting in first lasting the inner sole and upper at the toe, or toe and heel, and crimping the rest of the edge of the upper over the edge of the inner sole, the tacking or fastening the outer sole thereto, then drawing the upper edge from between the inner and outer soles except at the lasted points, and then uniting the inner sole, upper, and outer sole, bending the parts for entrance of the work-support into the toe, and pressing the loose edge of the upper into position besween the soles as the process of uniting progrosses.

The invention may be practiced on a nailingmachine, but is intended principally as a method of uniting the parts by sewing, and to enable a common wax-thread sewing-machine organization to be used for sewing boots and shoes, as well as for all other work to which such machines are'generally adapted.

It may be necessary or advisable to make apost-machine with a slim post, as compared with the posts found on ordinary wax-thread sewing-machines, but whether so or not, my invention needs no special construction that unfits such machines for ordinary use for other work. For this reason a machine of ordinary cost may be used, enabling parties who cannot afford to purchase a McKay machine to employ a machine in use in every shoe-shop for other work for the additional work of uniting the soles and uppers.

The invention also effects a considerable saving in time, for the extra Work of pressing in the upper edge as the sewing progresses is more than offset by the time taken in lasting the whole upper of a shoe as has to be practiced in the ordinary method. It also effects a saving of material, as in the ordinary method lasting'taoks are used throughout the length of the upper, while in my process they have to be used only at the toe.

My invention will be clearly understood from the above description, but I show in the drawing a shoe-upper lasted at the toe, and the rest of the upper drawn down for application to the work-supporting post.

a denotes the outer sole, 1) the inner sole, 0 the upper. The innner sole having been laid upon the last, theedge of the upper is drawn over the edge of the sole at the toe, and lasted thereto by suitable tacks, and the rest of the edge is crimped over the edge of the upper to impart the bend thereto. Then the outer sole is tacked to the inner sole, and the shoe is withdrawn from the last. The loose part of the upper is then withdrawn from between the soles, and the sole and upper bent for introduction of the post to the toe, the parts being then united, as already described.

I claim- The improvement in the manufacture of boots and shoes, consisting in the method of lasting and uniting together the inner and outer soles and upper, substantially as described.

GHARLES AUSTIN KEITH.

Witnesses:

M. W. FROTHINGHAM, FRANCIS GOULD. 

